A fresh start
by Felior
Summary: OOC. Following a terrible event and it's consequences, Hermione choose to radically change her life.
1. Chapter 1

AN: so I don't own the characters or universe of Harry Potter.

English is not my native language, so I'm sorry for any mistakes. I will not be kind to any characters beside Hermione, so you are warned.

Hermione had carefully prepared her plan to escape Hogwarts.

She knew very well that, given the slightest hint of her desire to leave, the Headmaster would have all but lock her up in the dungeons. He had made that very clear a few weeks before, when she had said she didn't want to have anything to do with Harry, and he had replied 'I can't allow you to do have to stand by Harry, no matter what happen or what you think, until he no longer needs you. It's all for the greater good'. She had been appalled, but had manage to conceal her dismay and pretend to agree with him. And she had started to plan. Facking cordiality with her former friends had taken an immense toll on her, but she had a goal, and she had devoted her entire energy and focus on it, to avoid drowning in her sorrow.

And now here she was, at the border of Hogsmeade, looking at the majestic form of Hogwarts on the hill. She could hear from that distance the cheers coming from the quidditch stadium. She had timed her escape to happen during the match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, knowing that everybody would be to busy to notice her movements. A few day before, she had started to duplicate and replace her stuff with transfigured trash when her roommates weren't there, so has to avoid them reporting that she was packing. Now her shrunken trunk was in her pocket and Crookshanks was in his carrier, surprisingly calm.

Standing there, she was feeling so many emotions, she would be hard-pressed to name them all. But a few were more powerful, relief and regret being at the top. When she thought about it, the relief she felt at leaving Hogwarts was almost overwhelming. Until recently, she hadn't even realised how much being there was a burden, and how much, in her subconscient, she wanted to leave it all. Which led to regret, because she could have avoided so much heartache and suffering, if only she had been a little more lucid, and trusted her guts more.

Deep inside, she was crying over what could have been, about all her dreams and hopes, all burned and buried by the harsh reality of the lies and deception. But she refused to dwell on that, because that would change nothing, and there were still things to do, before she could be totally safe.

Despite turning 17 a few weeks before, there hadn't been an opportunity to take her test for apparition, so she had to resort to the floo, which mean she could be tracked. Fortunately, her wand no longer had the trace, so she started to glamour herself. Her long wavy brown hair turned into a black bob, her eyes became blue, and her facial features became more harsh, with a few lines to look older. She transfigured her school robes into classic every day robes in deep blue and used an illusion spell on her cat carrier, making it look like a purse. Using a mirror, and feeling satisfied that no one would recognise her, she started to advance toward the Three Broomsticks.

Once inside, she asked Ms Rosermeta if she could use her floo, and found herself directed to a fireplace. After putting a few knuts into a pot, she took a fistfull of the powder, and with a decisive shout of 'Leaky cauldron', she found herself whisked away to London. Immediately upon arrival, she cleaned herself, transfigured her robes into casual muggle clothes without dropping her glamours, and with that, Hermione Granger left the pub, and wizarding britain forever.


	2. Chapter 2

A few hours later, as the Eurostar exited the Channel Tunnel, Hermione heaved a big breath of relief.

She was in France, and out of reach of Dumbledore, the Order and the ministry. Now that the stress had lessened, she turned her thoughts towards the next steps of her plan.

She was fortunate that she didn't have to take her parents in account during her planning. During the summer, fearing the war looming on the horizon and the fact that her parents were very much defenceless (not that they really knew what happened in wizarding britain), she had taken steps to protect them. She had encouraged them to go with doctors without borders, something they had wanted to do for a long time but had held off for her sake. She had argued that since she was turning 17, she would be able to join them really easily, and wouldn't that be fun to have christmas and holidays in a lot of differents countries? In the end, her parents were so enthusiasts, that they decided to sell their practice, their house, and to move to their little cottage in France that they had bought for their retirement, before leaving for Africa. So now, they were very much out of reach of any witch or wizard, who wouldn't have even the slightest idea of how to find them.

Still, even if she was happy that they were safe, Hermione would have loved to see them at their house, she longed for the reconfort that they could bring to her, the peaceful feelings they could provide.

Selfishly, she wanted the opportunity to have people on her side, who would defend her and not just dismiss her pain, her suffering…

Hermione shook violently her head, startling the lady across her, taking a shuddery breath. She couldn't think of that now. She didn't want to think of that, not today, not ever, even if she knew it was not realistic or healthy, but for now she could and would push all of that in the back of her mind.

Fortifying her mental barriers and recentering herself, Hermione start to review what she would do next.

Even if she had left Hogwarts, there was no way she wasn't continuing her education, she would not let anyone take that away from her. So, in preparation for that, a week before she had asked Professor McGonagall for a copy of her school records, saying that now that she had her OWLs, she wanted to review her grades to prepare for her future, and use it to start asking for entry and scholarships in university and apprentice programs. The Professor had agreed without too much arguing, knowing how Hermione was devoted to her studies.

So now armed with the precious documents, she could enroll in a new school. She hadn't start asking by owl, fearing that Dumbledore could intercept her correspondence with how tense the situation had been, but she had put a lot of thought in what she would do.

There were a lot of magical schools all around the world, the nearest being Beauxbatons.

But she didn't speak french well enough, and Madame Maxime was an ally of Dumbledore, so that was out. With the language barrier she found her choices limited to schools were english was in use. Which meant North America or Australia were her best choices, even if she knew there was a prestigious school in India, but foreigners were not easily accepted.

Between Australia and North America, her choice tended to go toward the latter, since the school year was the same, where Australia was in reverse, and the end of the school year was near.

Moreover, even if Ilvermorny was the biggest school in the USA with a stellar reputation, she was really interested in the Salem witches' institute, a smaller school but still world renowned, where in addition of the regular subjects, others less widely spread were offered, such as ritual magic, for which the school was famous for and that she was really keen to discover.

One of the biggest advantage of the school for her was that it was an all girl school, and she very much wanted to avoid boys for a long time. In addition, the school evolved into a society for witches once the finished their schooling, were they could pursue their higher education with other witches as masters, and was very much a community from were a lot a creations emerged, which was a big plus for Hermione academic mind. She was resolute in her goal to enter the prestigious school and forge a path for herself.

With that in mind she arrived in Paris. She started by going to a bathroom were she could change out of her transfigured clothing and drop her glamours. Once clad in simple jeans and shirt, she hailed a taxi for a drive toward Roissy Charles de Gaulle, the main aeroport. Once there, glad that her parents had set up an account and credit card for her last summer, she booked a ticket for a flight to New-York scheduled to leave 3 hours later.

She knew that Boston was closer to Salem, but she didn't know if there was a magical district in the city or how to access it, while she at least knew were the MACUSA was in New-York, and figured she could ask for more information there.

Needing to occupy the time until boarding, she choose to go to a little store to buy a few book to entertain herself during the flight. Typically, her confort book was Hogwarts a history, but in the middle of non magical people it wasn't an option. Instead, she ironically found a book on the history of the salem's witches trials that she purchased, just before it was time to board. Seated beside the hublot, she watched the ground flow by during take off, saying goodbye to her old life.


End file.
